Everyday efforts of the International Organization for Migration to (re)create migration management in and through the Bali Process

An Institutional Work Lens

Bibliographic Data

ID3647520
AuthorsLova Jansson
Year2025
Volume52
Issue1
Pages1-20
Publication date2025-03-12
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Community (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-9586 • E-ISSN: 1469-9451
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1369183x.2025.2476568
OpenAlexW4408364924
LanguageEN
References cited55

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a controversial actor in the field of migration – now a UN related agency of major size, yet sometimes criticised for serving a mobility control agenda, and its diffuse means of advancing migration management recognised as difficult to detect. Regional Consultative Processes are keenly championed by the IOM and constitute an increasingly popular avenue to progress migration policy dialogue, although how they work, how well, and for whom, is poorly understood. In this study, I use an institutional work lens to critically conceptualise the IOM’s activities in the Bali Process – the major RCP of the increasingly mobile Asia-Pacific – and to understand its effectiveness. Based on interviews with 22 informants and analysis of 136 archival documents, I argue that the IOM pursues political, technical, and cultural work to (re)create key aspects of the institution of migration management in and through the Bali Process. My institutional work lens also allows me to recognise structural constraints on the IOM’s efficacy, which I suggest frustrate its mobility promotion and migrant protection agendas in favour of control

Business · Lens (geology · Political science · Process (computing · Public relations · Sociology · Work (physics · Asian Studies and History · Computer Science · Engineering · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration

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